32 Dr. Govan on the Natural History and Physical 



water-worn rounded stones, winch strew the river bed alter- 

 nating with the strata of an imperfectly formed sandstone, so 

 friable as to crumble under the pressm-e of the fingers. The 

 steep natural faces of the cliffs commonly point towards the 

 plains ; while towards the Doon, the ground slopes with a 

 gentle declivity and deep soil, covered with Sal forest. From 

 this quarter no cliffs almost can be seen ; the general level of 

 the Doon too, is considerably elevated above that of the plains 

 in front of, the hilly barrier; and here we may observe is the 

 first indication of a law which seems to prevail very generally 

 over all the hilly country under consideration, without except- 

 ing perhaps the snowy range itself, and the valiey of the Sut- 

 luj on its north-east face, viz. the dip of the stratification in a 

 north-easterly direction, giving the best surface and moisture 

 for the nourishment of trees, which, most frequently, gene- 

 rally speaking, are numerous and large on that face, or the 

 north-west sometimes. Some other speculations can hardly 

 fail to be suggested by the circumstances under which the 

 rolled stones occur in the stratification of the pass, 1st, From 

 the uniform thickness of the same strata, and the distribu- 

 tion of its rolled masses, we can hardly fail to conclude that 

 they were originally deposited in a horizontal position, and 

 that they acquired their elevation towards the plains, or 

 their dip towards the line of the hills, by some subsequent 

 change.* Qdly, The rolled stones in the river's bed are many 

 of them the debris of those beds a second time disintegrated. 

 iid, The rolled masses themselves are fragments of rocks 

 only found in the mountains of the interior. In their original 

 situation some of them appear to be the compact almost crys- 

 talline limestone of an interior range, which is almost entirely 

 soluble in acids, and is now collected from among the other 

 debris, by those in the habit of distinguishing the stone, in 

 order to furnish the purest lime for building. Among these 

 summits the Pinus longifolia of Dr. Roxburgh, the sp. of 

 lowest level, first makes its appearance, though the trees are 

 greatly diminished in number since the first entrance of Eu- 



* Although styled alluvia), therefore, these hills may be considered as belong- 

 ing to the oldest of the depositions into which the class has of late been divided by 

 Mr. Buckla'nd. 



